This written guide is basically a skeleton with timestamps of my 3 part Random Seed Any% tutorial series. Playlist here:
This will cover the basics, setup, resources, routing, boss strategies, and many of the advanced mechanics. Topics will be very briefly described here, with the relevant timestamp in the video. This guide is centered around Random Seed Any%, but most of the concepts apply to Set Seed Any% as well.
----- Part 1: Basics, Chipper Grove, Resources
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| --- Basics 0:51 |
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-- -- Settings 0:51
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Keybindings Make sure you have 2 punch buttons that you can press together at the same time. I use an xbox controller, and like to use A and X so that my thumb can press both together.
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Audio You can disable music, but you must have game sounds enabled
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Gameplay Enable speedrun timer. This is a loadless timer that we use for timing the run
-- -- Characters 1:29
Always choose Meat Boy, he spawns in slightly faster than all the other characters you'll unlock in any%. Bandage girl loses about 2 seconds over the course of the run.
-- -- Movement 1:57
It is faster to dash than to walk. "Quick dashing" is performed by pressing 1 punch button and then immediately pressing another punch button so that you're holding both buttons. I like to roll my thumb over A and X on an xbox controller to do this. You'll be doing this as often as you can on all levels. You can also use these inputs to instantly dash off of walls.
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|--- Resources 4:45
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Most of the stuff is in the sidebar of this speedrun.com/smbf page. Make sure to read the category rules.
Discord is useful, check out the #strat-videos channel there.
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-- Practice Save File 5:26
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In the Resources tab of this page, you can find a practice save file that makes every level contain all the chunks, which is really useful to practice with. Download the zip, and take out the SAVESLOT file. On Windows, put that in Documents/My Games/Super Meat Boy Forever/Save and rename it to SAVESLOT0, SAVESLOT1, or SAVESLOT2 depending on which save slot you want it in.
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| --- World 1 (Chipper Grove) 3:13 |
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-- -- Route: 1 2 3 4
Try to avoid hitlag when possible. Punching a bug makes you freeze for about a quarter of a second.
-- -- Boss 4:16
----- Part 2: The Clinic and Tetanusville
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| --- The Clinic 0:17 |
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-- -- Route: 1 3 4 5 (sometimes 2 - see A+ Time Scouting)
-- -- A+ Time Scouting 0:17
In the top left corner of the screen when you're playing a level, you can see the A+ time. This is calculated based on the combined length of the selected chunks for that level. This lets us estimate how long a level is without actually playing it.
There are two ways to scout an A+ time. The first is to enter a level and wait a few seconds for the time to appear in the top left. The second is to enter a level and then immediately exit the level, which will show the time on the menu. Both of these methods are used to make routing decisions on the fly.
-- -- 2-1 0:53
-- -- 2-2 1:19
Enter 2-2 from 2-1. Immediately exit 2-2 to check the A+ time on the menu. If the A+ time is <50s, re-enter 2-2 to play it. Otherwise, continue on to 2-3.
-- -- 2-3 2:13
If you did 2-2, be sure to look at the A+ time once it appears in the top left. If it is >55s AND you did 2-2, exit the level and go to 2-4. If you didn't do 2-2, just do this level.
-- -- 2-4 2:37
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Roof Hopping 2:37 Some chunks allow you to get on top of them, and then potentially jump to the roof of the next chunk(s). There are a lot of roof hop chunks in 2-4, so learn them. However, usually setting up a roof hop is slower than completing the chunk like normal, so if the roof hop doesn't chain to another chunk it can be a time loss. I like going for roof hops when a chunk is in the first half of a level.
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Break Glass from Below 3:22 You can break glass from below, which opens up some skips. See video for how this works.
-- -- 2-5 3:37
- Ghost Clipping 3:37 Ghosts travel to one of three locations when you punch them. The game considers these ghosts to be "related". When you punch a ghost and continue holding down the button you punched the ghost with, you dash through a "related" ghost with another punch button. This saves a lot of time by reducing hitlag.
-- -- Boss 4:36
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|--- Tetanusville 5:21
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-- Route: 1 2 5 6 (sometimes 4)
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-- 3-1 5:45
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-- 3-2 6:02
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Check A+ time in top left. If longer than 1:25, exit the level and do 3-4 instead.
Important roof hop chunk in this level, see video.
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-- 3-4 6:33
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- Intro chunk skip
Most levels have one or more chunks that always spawn at the start of the level. 3-4 has a fairly risky skip on its intro chunk that saves a few seconds. See video.
- Blue container clipping 7:17
Very similar to ghost clipping. Punch a container and hold the button you punched it with. You can dash through the same container you punched with another punch button IF the container would move again with your punch. If you release your dash inside the container, you'll snap to the closest edge of the container, letting you wall jump.
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-- 3-5 7:55
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-- 3-6 8:10
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- Intro chunk skip
Saves 2 seconds and isn't too risky. See video.
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-- Boss 8:35
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----- Part 3: The Lab and The Other Side https://youtu.be/kFjjN9lsuIA
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|--- The Lab 0:18
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-- Route: 1 3 4 6 (sometimes 5)
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-- 4-1 0:46
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-- 4-3 1:20
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When entering level, check A+ in the top left. If >1:20, exit the level and go to 4-4. If you skip this level, you'll need to do 4-5.
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-- 4-4 1:38
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After you complete this level, if you skipped 4-3 continue on to 4-5, otherwise exit to menu and go to 4-6.
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-- 4-5 1:54
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Some roof hops in this level, see video.
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-- 4-6 2:23
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When entering level and you haven't done 4-5, check the A+ time. If it is >1:00, exit the level and go back to 4-5. Some important skips on this level, see video.
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-- Boss 3:01
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| --- The Other Side 5:48 |
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-- -- Route: 1 2 3 4 (some people are starting to do 5-5 sometimes as well, but not covering that)
-- -- 5-1 6:16
Before entering this level, be sure to select Meat Boy. You'll have Meat Ninja selected after beating Lab. Lots of skips you have to know, check out #strat-videos in discord.
-- -- 5-2 6:46
Roof hop chunks to be aware of, see video.
-- -- 5-3 7:07
- THE 5-3 SKIP LEARN THIS, VERY IMPORTANT. See video. Its a skip that lets you skip the entire level if you get the right chunk.
-- -- 5-4 8:16
Quick dash without pressing down to avoid messing up the polarity of green/purple blocks on this level
- Green block clipping 8:45 You can clip into green blocks by pressing punch right between two "off" green blocks. You can then jump off the wall to turn around, or slide to the floor and jump forward. Also possible to do with purple blocks, but I don't cover that. See the video.
-- -- Boss 9:05
Final time is the time on the speedrun timer (top right) on the frame you hit the final boss with the last punch.
Thats "it"! Huge shout outs to the entire Super Meat Boy Forever discord community that has been labbing this game and streaming. You all are wonderful. These videos would be impossible without you.
Make sure to record your runs and submit to the leaderboard! Reference this guide and these videos as you implement all the techniques and strategies. I look forward to watching your runs. :)
